


If Today Was Your Last

by orphan_account



Category: Septiplier - Fandom, Youtube RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, M/M, More tags will be updated, Original Character(s), Secret Crush, Slow Build, writing this as i go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-21 21:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8260444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After 9 consecutive years, Mark travels to Woodcot House School, an International boarding school, he expects the same outcome, failure, and the same classes, boring. Except this time one of his new classmates Sean McLoughlin somehow forms a small crush on the golden boy. Let the drama commence.





	1. Spring Term

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark meets an old pal.

You know that feeling when you're either about to or have just left the house, you're thinking about what you've got packed and there's always that sinking feeling that you're forgetting something, but for some reason you can never remember until it's far too late? Well that's what Mark had, luckily he remembered just as he was leaving through the door of his house and ran back upstairs with his bags causing him to trip on each step. That was probably the only time Mark had succeeded in remembering what he was missing and was quite proud.

But now he is sitting in an overheated car, bumping along in the back seat with his suitcase and backpack at either side of him, sweat beads at the edge of his hairline and a pout resting on his face. Mark had to leave his converse at home, and he wasn't happy about it. They were his favourite shoes he doesn't ever go out without them but he couldn't possibly fit them into his already bloated bags, all that effort to try and squish them in was for nothing, not to mention the stress he put his brain through to try remember was he was forgetting. Now they were scattered on the floor of Mark's bedroom because his mother screamed at him to get his 'ass downstairs right away'.

They, Mark and his mother, were currently driving to begin another year at his boarding school, Woodcot House. Mark insisted on driving their shitty 4-door Subaru Legacy but his mum demanded he stay in the back and rest for the few hour drive, in her mind he needed relax for the first day, which only consisted on finding out rooms and unpacking. Mark had gone through the exact routine for the past 9 years of his life, he couldn't exactly say he was sick of it, I mean he hated the school, he wouldn't like anything more than to leave it and spend the remaining two years of his high school life somewhere else, but alas his mother loved the school and there was no chance he would leave before college.

In the end Mark had taken the opportunity to have a nap in the tight space, he woke up a few times whilst his mother stopped for gas and the Korean wiped the sweat off of his head before dozing off again. His neck was bent in a weird position which his mother knew would be painful once he woke up, and his legs were tangled in all the bag straps, but it didn't matter, it felt comfortable-ish at the time. 

Mark's mother looked back at him a few times whilst nearing the school, she wondering if he ever missed her when staying at Woodcot House, she questioned that every time she dropped him off and never bothered to ask because he'd always somehow managed to fall asleep before she brought it up, silly boy. She also wondered how he wasn't drowning in a pool of his own sweat, it was 33 degrees inside the vehicle and most likely hotter outside, yet Mark was only dripping from the forehead. After one more violent pot hole, which shook Mark awake in a startle, his mother pulled into the massive gravel driveway of Woodcot House School and continued up the path. The drop off time was 1:30 PM.

Mark sighed, looking through the window to take in the scenery he had basically grown up around. He could almost say it was in the middle of nowhere, it sure as hell looked like it, there were no other roads nor buildings near the massive piece of land that weren't already part of the school, it was huge and seemed to scare off any locals from the towns nearby. The driveway led to what Mark calls the 'rotary', it was just a roundabout with a cool looking fountain in the centre for the cars to loop around and drop their sobbing kids off. The rotary stopped meters in front of the main doors of 'Dean's Hall', another name for the main building. It was huge, it towered feet into the air and cast a long shadow over the rotary and the other cars unpacking. On either side of Dean's Hall were more large buildings, they were two more buildings, smaller than the main one but still kept their imitating image, all buildings were made of the same material, one Mark had memorised the feeling of when he'd first arrived, it was a cold brick, pale and creamy with white paint colouring the door frames and window sills that were placed every few meters on the building. There were a few more buildings around the back where the courtyards were, but they were hidden away by Dean's Hall. 

The whole area was surrounded by bush and lush forest that scared anyone from planning a runaway, Mark had even thought about it a while back but dissed the idea when he kept hearing horrible stories from other students about people who didn't 'make it'. The ground outside was a mixture of trimmed yellow grass and hard dirt that usually had some anthills built on the patches. There was plenty of room between the driveway and the main field for people to run around, once again, Woodcot was fucking massive. There were even some benches placed under some intentionally planted trees for protection from the sun. Mark remembered having English classes out in the grass, they used to read Shakespear and Bambi in the sun (not at the same time), 'they' meaning his classmates because Mark was usually trying to poke sticks down the ant holes. That was a weird memory. 

Mark got out of the car once his mother whistled at him, snapping him out of his personal narration. He passed the side of the car and pulled his bags through the door, gravel dust exploding on his black and red high tops when they dropped the ground, those were the only other shoes he'll agree to wear apart from his beloved converse. His mother cursed at him for already making a mess of himself and carded her hand through his thick hair, to which he scoffed at and swatted her away. 

"Mum, please! I'm not a preppy, I can clean myself off, thanks," Mark glared, furiously brushing his hair down and sidestepping away from his smirking mother, Mark looked at her suspiciously, "What?"

His mother clicked her tongue, tilting her head in a loving manner, "You're so grown up. Time flies so fast, I swear you were only starting this school yesterday." 

Mark laughed at this, he remembered what it felt like walking into that big building for the first time in year three, and if Mark remembered correctly, he would have sworn there was shit in his boxers from being so scared. Mark wasn't always an outgoing guy, now he's got a nice muscular build and strong facial features, but when he was younger he wasn't one of those 'cool boys' that all the girls had crushes on. He was the asian nerd with glasses and pimples, even in his junior years.

Mark grabbed his backpack and swung it over his shoulder, rolling his suitcase violently through the gravel with his other hand. His mother was close behind him, they had a routine of putting all of Mark's stuff in the shade in front of Dean's Hall with everyone else's bags and then saying their goodbyes. Mark dropped his stuff close to a dusty white suitcase with a blue fist logo on it, he distinctly remembers that one case every year. Mark turned to face his mother.

"Goodbye time already?" She looked a little sad, her face dropping a little once Mark held out his arms for one last embrace before they go without each other for a few months. 

"Sadly," Mark laughed lightly through his nose, "What's up? You never act this way bidding my goodbye, last year you even celebrated and gave out biscuits." Mark smiled slightly at the memory, he looked into his mother's eyes as if trying to read her emotion. His arms were still out, ready for her to fall into.

"I'm ashamed you never make it through the ride without passing out," She joked, crossing her arms for a few seconds to make Mark laugh, then unfolding them and looking straight at Mark's face again, "You're becoming a man." his mother smiled with knitted eyebrows, her expressions causing Mark's stomach to drop, "Men don't need their mothers."

"Look who's the baby now," Mark teased, giving in, Mark stepped towards his mother to close the gap instead, they held their hug for a minutes before Mark said quietly into his mother's shoulder, "I'll never stop needing you." 

"Promise?"

"Promise."

And with that, his mother give him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning her heel and walking back towards the old grey Subaru Legacy that his father had left them before passing away. Mark didn't remember anything like that happening the past times he'd been dropped off, his mother would usually honk a few times and then speed away, continuing life as usual, just without the bother of her son. The Korean shrugged, he didn't want to give anything too much thought yet, he was still a little tired and was really looking forward to finding out his room.

"Ah, just like the good ol' days." A voice from behind Mark snapped him out of his faze, he spun around to find a boy picking up a white suitcase, the dusty one that Mark had once vomited into, but that was another story for another time. The blue eyed fellow had a shit-eating grin with his hands on his hips, what a douche.

"Felix, my man." Mark dragged the taller blonde into a bear hug, he slapped the Swedish's back and heard him yelp against Mark's grip. Felix and Mark had been good friends, if not best friends for several years now, they knew everything about each other. Almost everything, Mark thinks there are some things it's best to just keep to himself.

"How are you?" Felix gave Mark a toothy grin and he felt the urge to slap all the goofiness off of his friend, he was always too happy to be back at Woodcut House, Mark never understood why he liked the place so much.

"I'm good, school hasn't started yet though, so ask me that in a week and I'm sure you'll get a different answer." Mark rolled his eyes and Felix just laughed playfully.

Felix puffed out his chest in fake pride, "Well, I'm going great, spring is my favourite season and this term is the easiest to get through." Mark had arrived for their spring term, which began early January until Easter, in which he had the choice to go home for the long weekend, but there was also the spring term holidays which happened in February. It was very confusing and it took Mark a few years to get his head around the whole ordeal. "Although I've never experience year eleven so let's pray that the work isn't any harder than last year." He pouted, Mark couldn't help but agree.

"Last year was hell, I could hardly get through Science classes and that's the easiest course here." Mark complained, frowning a little with worry that he would yet again embarrassingly fail this year. But his fail wasn't the same as everyone else's fail, fail meant something different to every single person and for Mark it meant not getting higher than all C's, which in his family is shameful. Even his brother could do better and he was supposedly smarter than that tool.

"Fuck me," Felix mumbled, "What makes me think year eleven will be any easier? But I did pretty good in English last year, despite it being my second language." Felix reminded the hot headed boy with a charming smile, he nodded along.

"Oh yeah, I'll have to congratulate you," Mark slapped his shoulder, "You play it pretty well, being a FOB and all."

Felix frowned and cocked his head to the side in confusion, "FOB?"

"Fresh off the boat," Mark imitated Felix's shit-eating grin and removed his hand to shove it back into his short pocket. Felix laughed loudly with Mark at his attempted racist joke.

"Doesn't that only apply to asians? And that means your a FOB as well! Don't be too proud of yourself, dickhead." Felix shoved Mark a little, but that wasn't right.

"I'm an asian born in America! You idiot, Hawaii is apart of America." Felix gave a confused smile, trying to calculate it all in his head while Mark pressed on, "Don't try and insult me if you don't even know the country you're currently living in." 

"Fine, fine, you win. Manipulative little bitc-"

Mark punched Felix's arm playfully.

"Ouch!"

Mark smirked, "Talk shit, get hit."

Felix only guiltily rubbed his shoulder and squatted back down to reach his backpack. Mark glanced around at all the other kids he recognised from earlier years attending this boarding school, Felix seemed to be doing the same from the ground and they both just stayed there watching people get out of cars for a minute. Some people looked different, with freshly dyed hair or growth spurts. But they were still the same ordinary people that Mark and Felix had gone to school with all those years ago, and Mark preferred it that way, he'd gotten to grow up with these kids and it almost felt like a second family to him, despite the fact a lot of them he didn't even particularly like. 

But there's always those days where it doesn't feel like class is class, it doesn't feel like that specific belongs to a day of the week and it's kind of like time has stopped and it doesn't really matter. And Mark finds himself just playing around with his friends, the weather is neutral, the lessons don't feel pressuring or hard, there's no stress and Mark just enjoys himself in the moment. Fuck, Mark misses that feeling.

All of a sudden a far too familiar ringing began in his ears, it was the school bell. Mark started to chuckle, god how he didn't miss that horrific sound. Felix seemed to have the same response and put the back of his hand to his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"I haven't heard that shitty bell ring for like six months." 

Mark frowned, "You're getting your months mixed up, six months is half a year baka." the Korean decided to throw some Japanese at the Swede who smirked knowingly, the two of them shared an interest in anime and tried to teach themselves Japanese from an early age, let's just say it didn't end very well and they only really know a few words, one including baka; idiot. 

"Whatever, oroka." Stupid. Mark didn't hesitate to laugh at his response, their Japanese was pretty shit but it was funny to listen to them attempting to pronounce the words properly. 

The two boys picked up their bags and walking into the two front doors of Dean's Office like every other student there, there were a few mothers crying and clinging to their boys and girls for dear life, but the others seemed to have gone already. Inside the building was a long hallway, the floors were made of wood and the walls were covered with a faded floral wallpaper. Mark smelt the air inside and was immediately hit with a wave of nostalgia, this place really did feel like his real home.

The first door on the hallway led to the -real- dean's -real- office (he slept in his own little cabin near the rest of the rooming buildings to keep an eye on the kids), Mark once learnt what his name was but had long forgotten, then there was a wide, long staircase spiralling up just a little down from the dean's office, up the stairs was a another long hallway of rooms, those were the worst rooms to be in because they were in the main building, where all the other teachers stayed as well. A few steps along from that was a more open area, it had carpet and couches lined against the wall, there was a bookshelf full of self-advertising booklets and other shit that didn't interest Mark. It was hard to explain in his head, but basically it was like a lounge that tried to make the visitors feel more like home, but instead made it feel like they were at a hospital. It was oddly cool inside despite it being boiling outside, further along the hall way was two more large doors that led to the actual hall, that was where they ate and did choir shit when it came up. The hall was different to the gym, Mark would call it a cafeteria but it was more like a prison. 

Mark and the rest of the kids put their bags down in the hall, they lined them against the wall and took a long look to memorise where they'd placed their bag so they could come back and grab it. The hall was made up of several long wooden tables in the shape of rectangles lining down the open space, there were matching long wooden stools for the students to sit on, it was always hard trying to get his legs between the table and bench because they were so heavy he could hardly push them out to make room for himself. They all sat down, Mark next to Felix near the back, to wait for the dean to come up on the stage at the very front of the hall to announce the opening ceremony, which only included a few words saying he welcomed them and then told them their rooms. Mark was glad it wasn't like other schools which took hours of their time to host an assembly saying they were glad no one died over the break, their's only took like 20 minutes. 

At least the dean was aware that no one gave a literal shit about being back, they just wanted to finally know that they wouldn't be rooming with their worst enemy and instead with their best friend. Best feeling in the world. 

Mark took a quick look around by craning his neck, the dean was walking up the stage's steps and the other teachers were smiling happily. Why the fuck would they be happy about going back to work? Especially for this dick (the dean) and with these demons (the students). No teacher actually enjoyed teaching, everyone knew that, and that thing they tell you every year; 'you guys were actually the best year *insert year number*'s I've ever taught', come on, they say that to everyone. 

Suddenly the microphone screeched and the students all covered their ears as the dean began coughing into the speaker, "Is this- is this working?" he nodded and continued speaking, "So, uh, students. Welcome back to Woodcot House School, I hope you've all had a great break and rest over the weeks, you'll be needing it, as always. This year, we'll be continuing our wide variety of facilities and activities such as access to the music rooms, gymnasium for extra sports, and providing swimming classes, sadly we will not be continuing theatre due to the majority of students voting against it. Now, onto your rooms. This year we won't be calling them out, instead there are papers pined around the hall with your age-... uh, no, year groups, on them, your building and room number will be written beside your name as well as your roommate beside you."

All the students began whispering to each other and looking frantically from their stools as if they could read what the papers said metres away from them.

"Year eights's to the very right corner, year nine's....." Mark zoned out.

The school was quite small, there were about 20 people in each class and around 30-40 or less in each year. It started in year one and went to year twelve, except years below eight were on a different campus. Campus meaning their buildings weren't attached to the one's Mark and Felix were currently sitting in, they were a metres away from their's but were still on the same piece of land, he could easily walk over to the junior school, but they weren't allowed to. Their campus was much smaller than the senior's which was funny because all the junior kids were so tiny that it made Mark laugh when he could see them running around at recess through the window of his classes. 

"...year eleven's are by the front of the stage and year twelve's are by the main doors. Please don't push others and remain gentlemen when finding out your roommate." And with that, the dean said a quick thanks before putting down the mic and walking off the stage to the rest of the teachers who were getting ready to leave and let the boys rush to their rooms and spend the rest of the day unpacking and lying around. 

Mark and Felix jumped off the stood, well Felix climbed out while Mark was struggling to free his thigh, and then hurried to the front of the hall to see the small piece of paper being shared between 30 rowdy boys. Felix easily squeezed past he crowd, somehow, but Mark was stuck behind the wall of muscly shoulders and some fat rolls.

"Seriously!? I'm with Matt?" Some kid groaned, causing another who Mark assumed was 'Matt' sulked down in guilt.

"Tanner, fuck yeah bro!" Another said.

Mark was becoming more anxious by the second as he tried to push his way through the crowd of taller boys, Mark was tiny compared to them with a record of almost 6 foot, he was proud of it okay? Finally Mark was able to wiggle his way past two boys and was now poking his head over Felix's to read the list, he scanned the names and was looking for Fischbach, a name not many shared, he was also one of five who had 'F' as their first letter of their surname. 

Fisher, nope, Fox, wrong, Fraser, no. 

Ah! Fischbach; B13 — meaning building B, room 13. And he was rooming with someone named...

McLoughlin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment telling me if this fic was a good idea, and if you want me to continue, it really helps guys :') seriously xx


	2. Room Tour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically just the room. Oops sorry, more excite! and gay! in the next chapter my dudes. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school is mean to me atm

Jack had never been the shy type, he was outgoing, for sure, loud as well. So he was always a little anxious when attending a new school, maybe he would scare people away, be a little too intense, a little too Irish. Not that he should be worrying, it was his second year attending Woodcot House School, he hadn't any reason to have butterflies, but they still made their way into his stomach. He was really jumpy and full of energy, after having year ten at Woodcot, Jack had made some amazing friends, the type that he knows will be his friends for life and he's already planning college rooms with. 

One of those include Killian, his best friend. The bastard was also Irish, which made Jack feel a lot better. Well to be fair he was half Irish, half Australian... alright, maybe more Australian than Irish, but whatever, it was the pale(ish) skin and thought that counts. Killian had joined Woodcot the same year Jack had luckily, so the two got along amazingly, not to mention it seemed like they fit like puzzle pieces and their synchronicity was unbelievably hilarious. 

Jack and Killian arrived at the school together, the older of the two's mother drove them both to the campus, and although it made Jack already feel a little homesick not being dropped off by his own family, he didn't really mind, it was nice to get an early start at bonding with his friend again. They talked during the ride, listened to an assortment of music since they both preferred different artists and even took a few naps since it wasted a few hours of their life getting there. 

Now Jack had gotten his suitcase and started rolling it through the back door of Dean's Office like other people in front of him, the students had just finished being welcomed back and were all now heading to their new rooms. He exited the large building and was immediately on the basketball courts, the courts were surrounded by other buildings, the left side buildings were just rooms and the right side were classes. Jack had heard the school was built like that so if someone had their curtains open and was skipping class in their room, the teachers would be able to see from across the yards in there classrooms. Although, Jack was pretty sure the teachers wouldn't be able to see them anyway since most of them were over 40 and their eyesight was most likely stale. 

Jack followed a group of boys into building B, the furthest down from the row, it was labelled B for Boys. The building next to them was building G for Girls, if you couldn't guess already. And as if it already obvious, the two sexes weren't allowed to be roomed together, for more obvious reasons. Jack went through the two glass doors into the building, there was a reception like desk, which he knew no one would ever be seen at. There was a kitchen behind the reception area for students to make shit and public toilets right by the entrance doors. Turning right, the only way you could without walking into the toilets, was a long corridor that had doors on the left side and ended at the doorway to the lounge room.

Jack was in the room a few doors down from the lounge last year, room 12 or something. And it was hell; there was always boys in the lounge. The lounge includede really comfortable couches and a pool table, there was even a speaker for the males to connect their phones to using bluetooth, and damn was that music constantly blasting through the walls. It wasn't even good, it was no Metallica or MCR, the typical emo kid bands; it was more Bruno Mars and some other shit pop singer that Jack was definitely not interested in. But gladly Jack didn't even have to walk down that hallway, instead he climbed the stairs that were between the corridor and receptionist desk, he was living on the second floor this year.

The corridor upstairs was exactly the same as the one downstairs, except this time it didn't end at the lounge because there wasn't any room to keep the boys sane in, it was just a painting of the dean hung on a plain wall. Exactly what he needed, more reminders that he was stuck in this place. Jack didn't even have to go anywhere, his room was at the very top of the stairs, even better. Now he'd have to suffer hearing all the boys walking up and down at 2 AM and the summer faintings that somehow always on the staircase.

For some reason Jack, being the idiot he was, decided to knock on the door despite the fact that he knew he was the first there, he had been the first boy to walk up the stairs. The brown haired boy sighed and opened the door, part of him wished there was a lock so he could at least have his privacy but it was best they didn't for safety reasons. Jack rolled his case through the door and immediately closed it behind him, he fell back on the door and let his back rest there for a bit.

The smell was so familiar Jack needed to take a second to just breathe, he didn't want to be too caught up in all the nostalgia but the Irishman couldn't help but just take it all in. He well and truly hated this school, but part of him was so fucking glad to be back and away from the locals in his town and his own family. He was a social kid, don't get me wrong, he was always chatting and mucking around with his friends, but after a long week of school with the weekend to himself, he urgently needs some alone time to just unwind.

One of Jack's fears coming to Woodcot House was that he wouldn't be able to get any alone time, he feared that because it was a boarding school, he'd be stuck constantly being around these annoying teens. But after a year Jack's discovered little clearings, he even made his own tree-house, in the woods still on the school's land and he often treks out there to be by himself. 

Jack smiled. He snapped out of his little daydream and got to work on exploring the place. 

The entrance door opened up straight away to the main room, it had a small dining table by the wall to the left and behind a half wall to Jack's right, was the kitchen bench and the refrigerator. There are three doors leading out of the main room, which Jack mentally refers as the common room, the first one was the main door which Jack was leaning against, the second was on the other side of the room facing Jack, which he knew led to the bedrooms, and then the third which was oddly placed close to the kitchen wall which led to a small room with a shower. The thought of Jack having to cross the common room in just a towel every time he cleaned himself, sent a shiver down his spine. 

Rolling his suitcase behind him, Jack dodged the brown dining table and headed into the bedroom door, he was immediately welcomed with two perfectly symmetrical placed beds and desks. Satisfied with the cleaners work to tidy the place up, Jack took in the sight. It was a room just bigger than the common room with a bed neatly pushed the left and right wall, the small shelf like headboards were very nicely touching the far side of the wall. Each bed had a desk a few centimetres away from it, in the very centre of the far wall was a window. It was built perfectly centre with the bedroom door and was separating the two desks, meaning from where it was placed, the sun would never shine directly into Jack's eyes and only on his lower body, which he was very pleased about. To the far right, close to the end of the right side's bed was the bathroom door, which just had a sink and toilet. Pretty decent.

Jack thought hard about which bed he would choose, since he'd arrived before his roommate he got first preference. Jack quickly jumped onto the left bed, he'd rather see who comes out of the toilet clearly then having to strain his neck trying to peer off of the bed if he were located on the same wall as it. Plus, he's got eyes on the entire room, no spooky shit can happen without Jack knowing.

Suddenly the main dorm door opened and Jack heard shuffling feet from the common room.


End file.
